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were in not for the undoubted fact that many cases of
sore throat are called diphtheria where the bacillus
diphtheriæ is absent. In the last months of the year
the Metropolitan Asylums Board initiated a system of
bacteriological examinations of material from the
throats of patients admitted for this disease. As yet
no results have been published, and it seems best to
leave the discussion of the subject until some information
on the question is to hand. It is to be desired
that the Board should communicate the results of the
examination of each case to the Medical Officer of
Health of the district whence the patient was removed.
There is good reason to believe that much expense and
anxiety would be avoided if there were in London a system
of official examination by bacteriology in respect of
every case notified, similar to that in force in New York.
Such work is done by a private Association, recently
started, for private practitioners, on payment of fees.
Scarlet Fever.—The notifications of this disease
numbered 289, equal to 2.37 per 1,000 of the total
population. According to the figures contained in
Table 10, the rates for each of the five years 1890-4
were: 1.8, 2.1, 4.5, 6.4, and 2.3 per 1,000.
In connection with this subject, it will not be
out of place to refer to certain remarks contained
in the Report of the Medical Officer of Health to
the London County Council for 1893, touching the
connection between school attendance and the spread
of this disease.